Biographical Sketch

Helen Cooper, born in London in 1963, grew up in Cumbria. After school she gained a degree in music and qualified as a teacher, but then trained herself as an illustrator, and worked for a local ceramic factory (an experience she credits for much of her paint brush technique). After her first book--Kit and the Magic Kite--was accepted for publication in 1986, she decided against studying art at degree level. She moved to London in 1990 and has been working as a children's book illustrator ever since.

Helen writes most of her own texts. Her work has been translated into fifteen languages. Best-known titles are The Bear Under The Stairs ( winner of the Smarties Prize), The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed, and Pumpkin Soup, both winners of the Kate Greenaway Award.

She is married to the American illustrator and picture book artis, ted Dewan. They live in North London with their daughter Pandora.